Saturday, November 7, 2009

A home computer makes an ideal appliance to store and stream music. The purpose of a music server is to deliver tracks when requested by a client.

The server can deliver music to machines over a local area network as well as computers connected over the internet.

Linux is widely recognised as an ideal operating system to serve web pages. But the server capabilities of Linux extend far beyond merely providing HTTP servers.

There is a wide range of multimedia software available for Linux which turns your machine into a jukebox. There are even dedicated Linux distributions (such as VortexBox) that turn your computer into a music server.

This article identifies the best free software which enables your Linux machine to act as a music server, distributing digital tracks over a network. Such software supports popular audio formats such as OGG Vorbis, MP3 and WMA.

We have focused on software which is simple to set up and has an easy to use interface.

Music server software can be put to a number of different uses. For example, it provides an excellent way to listen to your music collection at home, or to listen from a remote location.

Alternatively, users can share their music with friends over the internet. However, it is important to remember that if you stream music to others on the internet, you should only use tracks that are available under a free license, or where permission has been obtained from the copyright owner.

So, let's explore the 6 music servers at hand. For each application we have compiled its own portal page, a full description with an in-depth analysis of its features, screenshots (where relevant), together with links to relevant resources and reviews.